A while back, Christina Brashear of Samhain, sued Ellora’s Cave, including Tina Engler and her mother, because something didn’t smell very fresh with their accounts.
After the defendants dragged their asses for years, the presiding judge handed down an epic slap,¹ and ruled for the plaintiff. (Whether or not Brashear ever saw a penny is unknown).
This time, Fifth Third Bank is suing them, apparently over the infamous, gaudily decorated bus used at conventions.
(See updates at end)
It’s been just over two years since Ellora’s Cave sued Dear Author and Jane Litte/Jen Frederick, over “The Curious Case of Ellora’s Cave.”
For those not in the know, that piece was based mostly (I’d say, 90 to 95%), on public records–from liens placed on the company by Ohio/Akron, to published pieces on traditional media, to the CEO’s own communications with authors, editors, and other employees, and with Jane Litte/Jen Frederick herself.
Still, Jaid Black/Tina Engler didn’t much like what the piece said about her, and so, a lawsuit for defamation was filed in late September 2014.
Between then and now, shit happened. And more shit happened. And then the suit was settled.
Yesterday, over at Karen Knows Best, I blogged about yet another Ellora’s Cave author who is asking her readers not to purchase the books she still has with that publisher, because she hopes to get the rights to her work back.
In her post she tells her story with this oh so shitty publisher–all without mentioning them by name, which kind of leaves me pondering¹–and then posts all her Ellora’s Cave’s covers.
So far, I’m nodding my head–good for her, finally speaking up for herself, and good luck on that.
Until I read the paragraph right below the covers.
Then, I saw red:
So DA and EC settled. Well. Huh. #notchilled
— Courtney Milan (@courtneymilan) October 22, 2015
So.
That happened.
And #notchilled basically exploded.
For any of my readers who are not aware, erotic romance/erotica publisher Ellora’s Cave filed a defamation suit against the blog Dear Author, and the blog’s founder and owner, Jane Litte aka Jen Frederick.
The basis for the lawsuit is the publication, back in September of 2014, of The Curious Case of Ellora’s Cave. If you have a few days to spare, there are a number of interesting posts written about the case in the intervening thirteen (ye gads!) months. You can find links to quite a few of those at the bottom of this post. (Please note that I have continued to add new links at the end, particularly to Courtney Milan’s and Deirdre Saoirse Moen’s posts explaining some of the legal stuff in layman terms.)
Her Hands, My Hands 